Rutgers embarrassed itself on the field Thursday night — then it got worse.
The Scarlet Knights lost to UMass as 28.5-point favorites and apparently had a load of fireworks pre-planned to celebrate an easy season-opening victory.
After the 37-21 loss, the Minutemen’s first win since October 2024 that ended a 16-game losing streak, an empty SHI Stadium was engulfed in a massive amount of fireworks.
A handful of fans stuck around to watch in what was quite a sad scene.
Adding insult to injury, the Scarlet Knights don’t mess around with pyrotechnics, as FOIAball reported they were the biggest spender on fireworks last season among FBS teams, totaling nearly $200,000.
Teams spend big money on fireworks all the time, as FOIAball also reports that Virginia Tech also spent over $31,000 on pyrotechnics for one game last season.
Rutgers consistently does fireworks bigger and better than nearly everyone – except the Scarlet Knights were hoping to get a win.
UMass received a handsome sum of $1.55 million to play in this game in what should have been a simple buy game for the host.
The loss was so bad that many pointed out that coach Greg Schiano is seemingly now on the hot seat.
“I want to congratulate UMass and Coach [Joe] Harasymiak and his staff and players,” Schiano said after the disappointing result. “They out-coached us. They out-coached me. They outplayed our players. We got licked tonight, and there’s no other thing to say about it.”
Rutgers visits Boston College next week, allowing the Scarlet Knights to spend less time on fireworks and more time figuring out what is going on with their football program.
